On July 21, the four months long lockdown was finally ended in Nepal. The decision was made in the cabinet meeting which concluded in lifting the lockdown. The hotels, restaurants, transportation and almost everything has been resumed with very few exceptions like salon, spa and so on. Lockdown finally ended on July 21 but that does not mean the virus has stopped spreading.
The covid-19 virus is still spreading in different parts of Nepal. The Ministry of Health and Population has been reporting around 100 cases time and again. Some of the parts of Nepal are still under lockdown. However, the number of recovered patients from the virus is gradually increasing.
The concerned authorities has urged to still follow the safety protocols though lockdown is lifted. People should still abide by the safety protocols. Each and every public transportation should follow the safety protocols while in use like maintaining social distance, wearing masks and so on. Public transportation has already been resumed and the air travel for commercial flights is set to resume.
The regular commercial flights both domestic and international will resume from the 1st of Bhadra (Nepali calendar) which is 17th of August. The Ministry of Culture and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) has been urged to make necessary preparations with safety protocols. The cabinet meeting has also decided to resume the flights in three phases. At the initial phase, each and every airlines will not be allowed to fly all of their aircrafts. The flights could only fly to the permitted destinations. The airlines will only be permitted to fly to the safe destinations during their initial phase. The numbers of passengers and flight destination might affect the permission to fly the aircraft in the initial phase. The flights might gradually increase to fly in different destinations as per the situation in the next two phases.
However, the airlines should follow all the safety protocols throughout the flights. The airlines are set to operate by taking precautions and following safety measures. Many chartered flights were operated throughout the lockdown by following safety protocols, so this might not be a problem. Buddha air had already operated a test flight to prepare for the flights after lockdown. So traveling in an aircraft should not be a huge worry if all the safety measures are properly followed. The important part here is that only the passengers with negative covid-19 reports will be permitted to travel. One of the positive parts of the resumption of commercial airlines might be the airfare. As of the now the airlines have been taking a high price for the chartered flights. Now after the commercial flights resumes, the airfare might not go back down to the normal flight rates but it us likely to deduct than the chartered flights.
Now with the resumption of commercial flights, Nepal opens for tourism again. The hotels, restaurants and guest houses are preparing to welcome tourist traveling to Nepal. The tourism and hospitality industry has been permitted to open by following safety protocols. However, if you plan on traveling to Nepal soon after the commercial flight resumes then be aware you can only travel to limited places as of now. Public transportation are only limited to travel within a district. The domestic airlines are permitted to operate flights to limited destination which is declared safe.
Furthermore, the cultural and traditional celebrations which were held throughout the lockdown due to covid-19 has now been permitted to resume. The local communities inside the capital are now preparing for the jatras and more. There are few to none infected people by the coronavirus inside the Kathmandu valley. The capital is quite safe than other parts of Nepal. By that, it does not mean Kathmandu is completely safe. In fact, none of the places are completely safe until and unless the coronavirus is completely knocked off and vaccine is found. On top of that, if the infection rate rises up again, the lockdown might be imposed again.
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